


Morning

by Taua



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: After War Experience, Blind Character, Canon - Anime, Character Death, Coffee, Detested Milk, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fire, Flame Alchemy, Friendship, Gen, Jokes about Ed's height, Mutilation, Nightmares, OOC (Obviously), Pain, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 11:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1132041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taua/pseuds/Taua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>//Fail forgot about this </p><p>The events of Promised Day are just starting to settle in... and the nightmares are catching up. <br/>The only hope is for there to be a morning afterward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morning

The dull thud of the cup so close came so suddenly he flinched, head whipping around to where the noise originated from.  
  
“Relax. Just a cup of coffee,” a male voice replied from even closer than the thud. “I thought you might need one. Or not. Anyway, it's here now.” The noise was faint, but he heard a slight slurping – probably coming from sipping on some beverage. From the smells, he'd assume it was coffee as well; black with a single cube of sugar in it.  
  
Turning his head forward again he slowly reached his hand out to where the thud had come from. He was cautious of his movements, perhaps even a little clumsy. But well, assuming all he saw was blackness he had all rights to be careful. He had yet to get used to it... and somehow he doubted he ever could.  
  
After a while a warm hand gently closed around his, guiding him until he felt cool porcelain on his fingertips.  
  
“Thank you, Fullmetal,” he whispered while he closed his hand around the cup.  
  
The dry chuckle he received made him reconsider what he had said. “I wonder if I'll keep the title. Guess that's to be figured out.” His voice hadn't sounded overall depressed, but he could hear the slight tension in it.  
  
“I'm sorry, Ed...” He lowered his head though he couldn't see the mattress or the blanket over his lower body. The ability to see might have been stripped from him, but compared to Edward who willingly gave his alchemy away for good in order to save somebody... He couldn't tell for sure if he had gone that far had he been in the same situation.  
  
“What's with that look?” Edward asked as he walked away. Seconds later the loud creaking of springs inside a bed cut through the air. “There's no need for pity. Actually, it doesn't suit you one bit, Mustang. Or maybe you look so down cuz I'm the one who'll be celebrated as the hero?” he added and for a moment Roy could picture him with that teasing half-smile on his lips as he spoke.  
  
On its own a faint chuckle escaped Roy. To mask it he quickly lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip of his coffee. At least the motion was still present in his being and he didn't bump into anything on the way. Still he tensed the muscles on his face into what was probably a grimace once the taste hit his senses.  
  
“Ngh, what is this? It tastes awful,” he complained before sniffing at the drink. It did smell like coffee... at least faintly.  
  
“Oh, I might have slipped a bit too much milk into it...”  
  
The half-smile in Roy's head altered into a sinister, childish grin as he pictured Edward purposely adding _more_ than just a shot of milk to the coffee. Not that Roy particularly disliked milk – in fact, he enjoyed a sip or two in his coffee – though the stuff inside the cup tasted more like the measures were completely reversed. However he refused to give the rebellious kid much to laugh about.  
  
Taking another swallow Roy forced his face to remain neutral before he answered, “Not everyone hates milk. And besides, I could need another inch or two in height...”  
  
“Who are you calling short, you useless good-for-nothing?!” Edward immediately barked back, his foot stamping down in agitation. “If it wasn't such a low blow, I'd throw something right at you now!” He heard Edward mumble something about demanding to move into a room with Alphonse and the shier cruelty of sticking him with Roy Mustang of all people afterward, but it was too low to properly hear. However it was very unlikely Edward would get his will; after the harsh battles, a large number of people were injured and put into hospitals. In fact, the space had turned so little additional medical stations were put up inside the headquarters. The most severely wounded were in the hospitals though – like Hawkeye and Alphonse. Their bodies belonged to the weakest still.  
  
As quickly as Edward fired up he cooled again – and like often these few days they shared the small, makeshift sickroom Roy heard the noise of flipping pages. The rustling was somehow calming, as well as the occasional creaking of the bed when Edward moved. It reminded him of the times he spend in the office with only Hawkeye around to watch over him.  
  
“What are you reading?” Roy asked after he finished the horrific cup of coffee he got served. While before he spend most of the time sleeping and resting, he felt already quite refreshed; he didn't get severely injured but got mostly exhausted during the battles, so he figured it was normal to recover so soon – save for the eyes. The added blindness made him easily bored since he had little to distract himself with when he couldn't see.  
  
“A book,” Edward plainly answered, though his voice was too neutral to indicate he was teasing. More than anything he sounded rather focused and concentrated.  
  
“I figured as much. What is it about?” Roy asked while leaning back and resting against the headboard. He had his head turned around out of habit, though he tilted it a bit more than usual.  
  
Another page was turned over, slower this time. “Recovery and growth of muscles.” The reply was quite absent and reminded Roy of the time when Edward first began his studies at Central City. Often, especially at the start, he had observed him reading between piles of books while he didn't even get up to eat. More often than not it was Alphonse who showed up and poked him to catch a bite or sleep a few hours. The devotion Edward was capable of was remarkable, even when he was still so incredibly young...  
  
However, Roy was too bored to let him be this time.  
  
Figuring it was a rather sensitive spot to talk about Alphonse directly – even when he was a soldier, he did recognize Edward could need a break from everything – he instead asked, “Is it a good one?”  
  
There was silence for a while and somehow Roy had the feeling Edward was studying him closely. Even when blind he could feel the golden eyes rest on him, the ever present hunger for more knowledge reflecting faintly in them. It was always there, that burning interest to learn more, no matter if Edward was shoveling food into his mouth or facing a dangerous battle.  
  
Eventually Roy heard the noise of the book closing, accompanied with a creaking from the bed. “I did some research on human bodies after I saw Al's, back when we fought Gluttony. Since he looked so weak then already, I thought about looking up some stuff to prepare when he'd finally got his body back,” he told before drinking more of his coffee. “Kind of different from books about alchemy though. It's all about growth and development, not ingredients and measures.”  
  
Since Edward sounded surprisingly calm when he talked about his brother, Roy figured it might be okay to stay with the topic anyway. “Of course your brother can have access to any kind of treatment he needs, even when he's not part of the military. That's the least we can do,” he said, though it was probably self-understanding. However, after the horrors Roy faced the last few days, he had the sudden urge to reassure the people around him about his gratefulness. So much had happened and too much was risked... Before Ishval belonged to the most horrible scenery of his mind, but the actions taking place in Central City were equally disturbing. Unlike during the civil war, they were not overpowering the enemy by far but were rather stuck on the other side of the blade. The countless wounded and the casualties were testimony of how damn close they had been to failing.  
  
“Wow. This sure is a character break there,” Edward commented, interrupting Roy's thoughts. “I can't recall you ever sounding – or looking – so depressed.” He paused there for a moment, probably studying Roy again. “It's true that many died during the fights... but we're still here. We can make a difference now.”  
  
Roy kept his unseeing eyes open in surprise. “Talk about character break. Are you really Edward Elric?” he lightly teased. Though, it only served to mask how deeply impressed he was about him. The former hot-headed kid had quite matured these last few months. How had he missed it happened in the first place? Such a change took time to develop, yet it felt like Edward had turned into an adult in the blink of an eye. Or, maybe, Roy had been just too blinded by other things to see it.  
  
A dry chuckle came over his lips. What a cruel realization.  
  
“Hey! Stop laughing at me!” Edward barked, completely misinterpreting the situation. The more he complained the more amused Roy became, going as far as to actually crack a laugh at some point.  
  
Truth be told, Edward could be quite entertaining if he wanted to.  
  


~*~

  
Burning hot – that was the most fitting description for how Roy felt. His hands were trembling and he felt the heat from the flames surrounding him. There was also an unfamiliar tickling in his fingers, as if they were begging to be clicked. And truth be told, Roy felt oddly good when he shoot some flames out while he stalked down the dark corridor.  
  
He was on the hunt.  
  
A movement in the corner of his eyes caught his attention and immediately he clicked his fingers, sparks of fire rushing towards whatever had moved and consuming it by the flames. Pained screaming reached his ears while the figure jerked and twitched on the floor.  
  
But it wasn't enough.  
  
Gritting his teeth Roy clicked his fingers over and over, throwing sparks of fire at his enemy. He wanted them to pay – to pay for the unbearable emptiness they caused.  
  
“P-please, have mercy...!” the figure pleaded as it knelt down before him, completely submitting itself to him.  
  
Roy glared down at the figure, seeing the pale skin and the dark-green hair of the figure clutching the edges of his black coat, marking it as Envy. But instead of mercy only hatred and revenge reflected in his eyes – Roy could clearly see it in the mirror suddenly appearing opposite him. And then he saw flashing pictures of the graveyard, a plain stone with a name engraved into it. Immediately he saw more, good memories of his dear friend along with the depressing picture of his wife and small daughter crying at the funeral.  
  
“You deserve any, scum...” he growled before kicking Envy violently away. As soon as he was out of range he clicked his fingers again, feeling a disturbing sense of fulfillment when the red spark shoot toward Envy's body.  
  
However, seconds before it hit Envy suddenly turned into something else – and Roy found himself staring at the pale, shocked face of Hawkeye as the deadly flames flew in her direction.  
  
“No, lieut-” Roy brought out before he helplessly watched how she was completely consumed by flames, screaming in agony during the process.  
  
For a moment Roy's sight blurred and he swayed slightly, one hand coming up to cover half of his face.  
  
“Snap out of it!” he suddenly heard, the yell dangerously close to him. Out of instinct he whipped around, already clicking his fingers to defend from whatever Envy would throw at him.  
  
With horror in his eyes he watched how Edward, so close to him, looked back with surprise written all over his face a moment before the fire hit him with full impact. “Full... Fullme...” Roy gasped, barely able to keep himself up. Though Envy was still closely around, he knew for a fact it were the real Hawkeye and Edward he just killed in his mad carelessness.  
  
The realization made his knees bend, giving in under the heavy guilt suddenly lasting on his shoulders. Defeated Roy knelt there, his arms limb as they hung down his sides.  
  
The fire he had caused grew wider and wider, completely out of control, while more familiar people appeared out of nowhere. Their pained screams echoed in his ears while they died through the flames – his own flames –, the bodies reduced to a pile of ash. Everyone appeared, from his caring foster mother to his subordinates and allies.  
  
They were all dying by his own hands which only acted in revenge.  
  
Overwhelmed Roy pressed his hands over his ears with a yell, desperately trying to black out the screams. But instead of helping, his hands made everything worse. Moans and cries of the many innocent Ishvalen he killed during the war mixed into the present noises, ruthlessly facing him with every horror he was responsible for in his life. Even when he pressed his eyes shut Roy clearly saw the corpses of the people he turned into ash with the alchemy which should be used only to help.  
  
All the abilities he had only brought death and despair instead of aid and assistance.  
  
“Stop it... Make it stop!” he yelled, his body curling together on the floor.  
  
“What would it take to make it undone?” a somewhat echoing voice asked him.  
  
When Roy opened his eyes, the cold sweat on his body making him shiver, he noticed he was surrounded by endless whiteness. A faceless, blank figure sat lazily opposite him, a toothy grin over it's empty face.  
  
“Equivalent exchange. What would be the price for making everything undone?”  
  
Panting lightly Roy tried to orientate, only for realizing there was literally nothing there save for them.  
  
“Your insides? A limb?”  
  
Suddenly an unbearable pain broke out in his body, making him shout and collapse. While supporting his upper body, Roy watched how odd, black tentacles were sticking out of his abdomen, waving slightly as they spread the wound in his stomach. When he tried to glance back over his shoulder, he noticed a large open door behind himself. The tentacles originated from there – and were currently pulling and cutting his leg, dragging him enough he lost balance.  
  
Desperately Roy tried to kick free, but instead more and larger tentacles closed tightly around his body and pierced his flesh. He fought as much as he could, yet he couldn't prevent them from dragging him further towards the door.  
  
“What about your backbone? Perhaps the heart would do, too.”  
  
As the voice went the tentacles penetrated his body further and slammed his head down on the ground enough for the skull to crack considerably. Yet Roy way alive and disturbingly aware of what currently happened to him:  
  
He was torn to pieces.  
  
“Ah, what about the eyes?”  
  
The tentacles snaked into his view, the tips coming closer and closer to his eyes. Squirming Roy gave one last attempt to struggle free, but in the end he could only watch as the blackness closed around his eyes and pu-  
  
“ _Mustang_!”  
  
Yelling Roy tore his eyes open, only seeing complete darkness. He jerked wildly and clawed on fabric of his blanket while his entire body cramped, his mouth open to allow him to breathe deeper.  
  
“You were screaming in your sleep,” Edward said before moving his body away. Only then did Roy realize he had been grabbing his shoulders.  
  
Sighing he threw one arm over his eyes even when it did nothing to block his sight more than it already was. He felt how his clothes clung uncomfortably on his sweaty body and his ears drummed with the noise of his raging heartbeat. Slowly he realized where he was and that it had all been just a twisted nightmare. The last one of that kind had been years ago, after the civil war in Ishval. It would take a while before he was calm enough to go back to sleep.  
  
“What were you dreaming?” Edward asked after a while of silence. Roy could only guess what time it was, but he had the feeling it was rather sometime during the night. His trashing around in bed must have woken Edward up at some point.  
  
Not comfortable talking about it, Roy remained silent and focused on calming his jumpy nerves. The blindness and the ill change he went through when he fought Envy made him already overly sensitive. He didn't want to open up to a kid and lay out his fears openly. As a soldier he knew better than that.  
  
“Was it about the door and the truth?” Edward further asked before he sat down on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped a little under his weight. “That sure as hell are vivid nightmares if you have them. Kept me sleepless for an entire month, along with the pain.”  
  
“You should go back to bed,” Roy insisted, determined to get Edward out of his hair. He really wasn't in the mood to share personal stories about doors and truths. If anything the visit to the door of truth only showed him what kind of monster he turned into when he fought Envy. Back then Edward had suggested him to take a look into a mirror – when he crossed the gate, Roy had got an even better view on it from the outside, the images flashing by and baring his ill feelings so shamelessly he got sick. Hadn't the others come and stopped him... in the end he might have turned into a revenge-driven beast after all.  
  
“It's morning.” He heard Edward step his metal foot down softly. “I was just reading when you started screaming out of the blue.”  
  
His breathing finally calmed, Roy gave a faint chuckle at the response. “The sun hasn't risen yet.” He might be blind, but he still knew the feeling of sunrays on his skin; with the window pointing to the East, he'd notice the warmth on his bed were it morning already.  
  
However, it was a nice gesture from Edward – even when he was fairly clumsy at the execution.  
  
“Well! What if it's raining?!” Edward huffed loudly and there was some rustling, probably coming from when he crossed his arms over his chest. Sometimes he was so obvious ones didn't even need to see for knowing what he did.  
  
“I can't hear any raindrops,” Roy replied, teasing him further. Originally he just wanted to be left alone and dwell over his own mistakes, but if Edward insisted on pushing in he'd take at least a bit of advantage of him.  
  
“Damn smartass,” Edward hissed before jumping up. “It _is_ morning! In fact, I was just about to go get some coffee. I have to catch up reading since you held me up be- I mean, _yesterday_!”  
  
“Is that so,” Roy smirked and sat slightly up. He found himself unwilling to go back to sleep; everything was still too fresh and he wouldn't risk being that weak in front of somebody like Edward again.  
  
“ _Yes_ ,” the steps Edward made were so loud he was sure to wake somebody else up as well, “I'm off for a few minutes. Behave yourself or I'll add too much milk to your coffee again!” he threatened before stamping out and slamming the door shut. If his noisy walking hadn't been enough, Roy was sure _now_ the people put in the rooms around them were torn from sleep as well.  
  
But as annoying as it was, he still felt pretty grateful for the kindness showed to him. Not only had Edward grown up a lot, he had also developed some sense of tact. Roy couldn't think of another reason for why he held so back instead of forcing his will and thoughts onto the people like he usually did.  
  
And yet Edward Elric was still a fiery child, deep down in his core.  
  
  
  
Maybe Roy could pretend it was morning after all – at least this once.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone,
> 
> Been a while I posted something, neh? 
> 
> Well... my main home is still on another page.. however, last night I wrote this real quick and feel like sharing it here, too. I also finished watching F(M)AB yesterday and had to get this one out of my system xDDD Characterization is likely horrible, but well. It'll take a while to get used to them. 
> 
> This one is supposed to take place shortly after the anime ended. Everything is still a huge mess and many are hurt, so things are improvised. Basically I wanted a situation where they'd be sleeping in the same area and couldn't think of something better. 
> 
> ... ... ... 
> 
> More to come


End file.
